Peter Berg to direct Netflix drama about opioid crisis

Filmmaker Peter Berg is to direct all eight episodes of "Painkiller" for Netflix. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Feb. 19 (UPI) --Friday Night Lights and Lone Survivor director Peter Berg has signed on to helm all eight episodes of Painkiller, Netflix's limited series about the origins of the U.S. opioid crisis.

No casting has been announced yet.

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Writers Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster -- whose credits include A Beautiful Day In the Neighborhood and Transparent -- will serve as show-runners and executive producers.

"A tragedy decades in the making, the opioid crisis has become one of the most devastating public health crises of our time," executive producer Eric Newman said in a statement.

"Unlike other drug epidemics, born from underground manufacturing and covert smuggling, this epidemic began by prescription -- dispensed by doctors, approved by government regulators, and promoted by a family-owned pharmaceutical giant that made billions while betraying the trust of patients and the public."

"I am really charged to be a part of such an in depth exploration of the genesis of the opioid travesty," Berg added. "Companies that profit off of death and addiction are fair game to me when it comes to illuminating the realities of how they go about their business."